OC One-Shot Stories
by Creative Havenspirit
Summary: These stories are about different OCs that I own. There are a whole range of stories in here. So, take a look if you wish. At one point you may be reading a battle that a cat dies in, and the next a girl meeting her spirit animal.
1. Explanation

Now, this is a lot different from the "My Challenges" story. These are one-shots for characters I own on either different RPs or they are background characters for my stories _Rose, a cat to remember; Crimson Nightmares; Anna; The Perfect Stranger; and The Stranger._ They could be background characters or main characters.

Sometimes these will be scenes that are too long to be posted in an RP. Other times they could be a backstory about a character. Most of the time they'll be cats, but they may be humans too. So far, I have one-shots planned for several characters:

 **Ivystripe** \- having her kits with Juniperpaw helping.  
 **Redsplash** \- his relationship with his father, Tigerstrike.  
 **Greypaw-** her father leaving her with DarkClan because she had a power.  
 **Faith and Rita-** when Faith and Rita first meet; when Faith meets Sheba.

So, I have a few ideas set up. I'll continue to make more as things go on. Enjoy, I guess.


	2. Are We Safe?

_Hi guys! This one-shot is a little different, but still similar._

 _This is actually a narrative Language Arts assignment I had to do in 8th grade. It was actually really fun to write out, but not much planning went into it. I actually did re-write this story once for a different assignment in either English or Intensive Reading. However, despite searching and searching, I couldn't find it. So, you guys, for now, get stuck with the horrible writings of 8th grade Haven._

 _I do actually plan on expanding this someday though. So, hang on to this for now._

"Mr. Jacks!" Kate exclaimed, embraced the teacher. She was surprised to see the teacher, considering yesterday she never saw him come out of the hanger.

"I knew you could find a way out." Mr. Jacks smiled at her.

"But you always told me to stay in the airplane." Kate replied, a bit confused.

"Well, I guess we all have our moments." Mr. Jacks stared thoughtfully at a tree and had a expression like the expression on the Thinker statue.

Kate looked around but the only other thing around them were some trees, bushes, and Mr. Jacks' old bulldog. "Where is Darby? What about the others?"  
Mr. Jacks sighed and turned to the force field. "They didn't believe it was you. Many of them thought it was a trap and thought you were dead. I was the only one brave enough to try to use the mirror you sent us.."

Kate was shocked, _did Darby think she was dead?_ She opened her mouth to ask the teacher when he suddenly shifted to glare at something just over Kate's shoulder. "Who are you?"

When Kate looked there was a young teenage girl, maybe 13 or 14 hanging from a maple tree limb, her knees grasping the tree limb so she wouldn't fall on her head. "I'm Truly, what's your name?"

Kate froze, unsure what to do, luckily Mr. Jacks stepped between Kate and the girl, Truly. "I am Mr. Jacks. Do you know who set up the force fields?"

Truly used her arms to pull herself back into a sitting position on the branch she had been hanging from and jumped off, twisting as she fell so she could face them. "Yes."

"Who, and, do you, do you know why?" He asked the strange girl, stumbling over his words a bit.

"Scargrazor." Truly hesitated before continuing. "He wants to take over the world but he knows that the world won't accept his reign so he trapped us all in those force fields. Whenever someone goes 'pop' they are transported to his lair where they can either choose to follow his reign or be sent out here to die."

"Can you-" Mr. Jacks' question was cut off by his bulldog growling and barking at some near-by bushes. The bushes were shaking just slightly, Kate wouldn't have noticed it without the bulldog.

"Trad, get out of there. You aren't fooling anyone." Truly said a bit to loudly to whatever was in the bushes.

Kate jumped when, soon after Truly finished speaking, a teenage boy who looked slightly older than Truly popped out of the bushes and ran over to where Truly stood. Kate noticed both kids looked almost exactly the same. Truly and the other boy, Trad, were both tall, with tanned skin and brown hair, they also both wore green t-shirts and brown shorts. The only real difference between the two teenagers was that Truly's eyes were dark blue and Trad's were emerald green.

The two kids were whispering quietly and Kate was only able to pick out a few words, "Scargrazor", "hide-out", "Mr. Jacks". Almost two minutes later, Trad ran off, but he did stop to give off a small bark, imitating Mr. Jacks' bulldog. The bulldog howled in response.

"Who was that?" Mr. Jacks asked, pointing to the direction Trad had gone.

"Trad, he's on our side." Truly assured them.

"Can't we go to Scargrazor and get him to stop what he's doing?" Kate asked, finally finding her voice.

For some reason Truly found the question funny and let out a small laugh, "Trying to do that, would be like trying to ask a wild monkey to give you back something it stole from you. It isn't going to happen. But Trad has been spying on Scargrazor lately and we've been thinking on how to get him to stop." Truly narrowed her eyes. "You look familiar, what's your name?"

Kate hesitated before she answered, "I'm Kate."

"You two look like you could use some food and water. If you want, I have some at my hide-out." Tracy explained.

Kate really wanted to go, she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, but she needed to convince Mr. Jacks to come, the teacher didn't seem comfortable around Truly or Trad. "We're going to need food and water, Mr. Jacks." Kate turned back to her teacher.

"Kate, I know, but do you see, do you see the mark on that girl's hand?" Mr. Jacks whispered to Kate, glancing at Truly.

"What mark-" Kate looked back to where Truly stood and immediately noticed that, on the back of Truly's right hand, there was something unusual scared on her hand. It was a circle with the word 'outcast' in the center.

Truly looked at her hand when she caught Kate looking, "That's the mark Scargrazor gives people if they defy him before they are sent out here. That's also how he received his name." she explained.

"We have to trust her." Kate told Mr. Jacks. Secretly, Kate wanted to deny everything that was happening but she knew that Darby was still trapped in the force field along with her other teammates and that Kate's family were probably in one too.

Mr. Jacks nodded reluctantly and followed. Truly led them over a hill to a river with a very small and unstable bridge being the only way to cross it. After they climbed another hill, they trudged through the forest. Normally Kate would be fascinated by the beautiful fall colors and the leaves falling lazily from the oaks, sycamores, and maples despite everything that was happened, but she was too worried about her family and lacrosse teammates to pay much attention.

Finally, when Mr. Jacks bulldog was beginning to lag behind, Truly showed them to a tunnel leading deep under the ground. "I found this hide-out after escaping from a force field and climbing inside for protection from a storm. Just follow me and you'll be okay." Truly told them before crawling into the tunnel, Kate followed, Mr. Jacks hesitating before climbing in when his bulldog did.

At first Kate could see Truly crawling ahead of her through the dim light but soon the tunnel became pitch-black. She could tell the walls expanded at some points and closed in on others until finally she could see a dim light ahead. Kate began to crawl a bit faster when finally she saw Truly stand up and move out of the way.

When Kate stood up, she stared in surprise at the hollow in front of her. The hollow was underground with only candles perched on rods for lighting. There were tents set up with sheets and sticks for shelter and privacy, several people were also there.

"Kate, can you move?" Kate heard a deep voice say from the tunnel.

"Oh, sorry Mr. Jacks." Kate stepped out of the way.

Mr. Jacks was a lot larger than Truly and Kate so he was covered in dirt from trying to squeeze through. His bulldog sat down by the tunnel, clearly tired from the journey.

"This is the hide-out I share with Trad, there are several other people who defied Scargrazor here. I've used that mirror trick before, so some of the people here were rescued." Truly explained. "Right now we're waiting for the right moment to go against Scargrazor and try to defeat him."

Some of the people in the hollow were obviously nervous about Mr. Jacks' and Kate's arrival, others acted as if they weren't even there. A few people flashed them a smile but most were too nervous or busy to do much.

"Are there any adults around here?" Mr. Jacks asked.

"Yes, actually most of the people here are adults." Truly answered, gazing around the hide-out.

"Where are your parents then?" Mr. Jacks questioned the young teenager.

Truly hesitated a long time before finally answering, "They died trying to escape from a force field."

Kate could tell Mr. Jacks was about to say something else when Trad came crawling quickly through the tunnel. "Scargrazor has figured out that people are escaping from the force fields!" He yelled. "He also located where the hide-out is!"

"We need to move everyone to the other hide-out. It will be a tight fit with so many people but he'll never find the people there." Truly told Trad. "Start to gather up people, tell them to only take the basics."

Trad nodded and ran to where the other people were.

"I need to go help Trad, could you two help as well?" Truly asked them after Trad had left. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to eat or that I didn't explain more what was going on."

"I'll help." Kate volunteered. She wanted to help these people, hopefully they could find her family once this was over.

Mr. Jacks hesitated before nodding, Kate didn't know why he was reluctant, normally Mr. Jacks tried to volunteer to help anyone. When they all began to head towards the people to help them, a woman ran up and hugged Mr. Jacks. "I missed you so much!" She cried into his shoulder.

Mr. Jacks returned the hug and rubbed the woman's back gently.

"That's Mrs. Jacks." Truly whispered to Kate at the same time the couple began talking. "I knew that they were probably husband and wife, but I didn't want to say anything, just in case they actually aren't."

Kate nodded and began helping Truly pack basic supplies for a small family that was too busy calming the younger children to try to pack. Before Kate knew it, many of the people were gone, being led by Trad and a few other volunteers to the other hide-out.

Finally, Kate was able to exit the tunnel and wait for the others. When Truly came out with Mr. and Mrs. Jacks behind her and the bulldog she told Trad to lead them all to the hide-out.

Kate was going to follow when she noticed Truly wasn't following. "Aren't you, aren't you coming too?"

Truly shook her head, "Scargrazor is going to arrive soon, I can distract him so all of you can escape."

Normally Kate would have admired the younger girl's courage, but after seeing the looks of terror on the people's faces she knew that Scargrazor was something to fear. "You don't have to-"

Truly interrupted her, "I can handle it."

Kate turned back but Trad, Mr. and Mrs. Jacks, and Mr. Jack's bulldog were already leaving. Mr. Jacks seemed a bit reluctant, so did Trad.

"Okay, you can stay. But do as I say." Truly seemed a little reluctant.

Kate nodded. "Who else is a follower of Scargrazor?" Kate wanted to know what they were dealing with.

"His assistant is Jared, I can tell he isn't a fan of Scargrazor but he wants to stay on the man's good side." Truly stopped to listen, the birds had stopped singing and one gave of an alarm call. "Let's get in the hide-out and pretend that all the people with us." The two girls crawled into the tunnel, which seemed ominous now that there was no light at the end of it.

"Follow me." Truly said through the darkness, taking Kate's hand.

Kate followed, she was able to feel the mark on Truly's hand "Ouch!" Truly exclaimed, letting go of Kate's hand.

"What happened?" Kate asked, still unable to see in the pitch black of the cavern.

"I walked right into the wall." Truly explained. "Shows me for putting out _all_ the candles."

Kate couldn't help but laugh, but she suddenly felt like something was watching them. There was scuffling behind them, and when she turned to look a young man stood there holding a torch and with a sheathed sword attached to his belt. "There they are!" he shouted, more people following him out of the tunnel.

"Jared…" Truly whispered, before heading deeper into the hide-out.

Kate followed, the light from the torches dimly light the way , but Kate was mostly following the sound of Truly ahead of her. The smell of smoke began to fill the area and Kate looked back to see that Jared was setting the tents on fire!

"Truly, there's going to be to much smoke!" She shouted. She had been in a fire before and knew just how difficult it was to breath in one.

"Don't worry. There are small holes in the top of the cavern, the smoke will escape." Truly explained as the girls ran to the back of the hide-out.

"We're trapped!" Kate panicked, after reaching the back of the hide-out there was no way out that she could see.

"No, we're not." Truly watched as the younger girl squeezed through a hole in the wall. "Come on!"

Kate followed, barely able to fit through the hole in the wall, luckily it widened out after a few yards.

"That should take them a while to figure out." Truly said once they were safely through the hole. It was pitch-black again. "Let's keep on goi-"

Kate waited in the dark but Truly didn't finish her sentence. "Truly?" she asked.

Someone came running down the other side of the passage… Trad! And he was holding a small torch. Through the small amount of light Kate saw Truly, but someone had placed a knife to the other girl's throat. Before Kate could look to see who it was, Trad dropped the torch, and tackled whoever had Truly.

The light went out and Kate thought about joining in but she would probably end up hurting Truly or Trad in the dark. "Kate run!" Kate heard Truly yell.

Kate began to run in the direction that she remembered Trad coming from. She was actually able to continue running until she ran right into a wall. "Ow!" She yelped. She noticed a faint amount of light coming from a small hole in the roof of the tunnel and that the tunnel had widened out. There was a small, but very deep pool in the center, and different tunnels leading of from the tunnel she just ran out of.

Kate could pondered which route to take, finally deciding on the one right next to her, on the right. But when she went through it the tunnel made a wide u-turn and she ended up at the exact same cavern. This time Kate tried a different tunnel, this one was very long and made a lot of turns and was hard to travel through. Kate was about to give up and go back when she finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel, she ran towards it, not even bothering to stop when she tripped and cut her arm on a sharp rock.

Finally, there was a alarm call from a robin as she raced into some woods. Luckily the bushes were thick here and Kate huddled in the bushes, staring at the entrance to the tunnel. Her arm wasn't bleeding as bad as she had expected it to, so Kate waited, hoping that Trad and Truly would come out soon.

The birds began singing and Kate could hear some crickets chirping as the sun began setting, "Come on. Come on." Kate urged, she wanted to be sure Trad and Truly were okay. Kate waited, after the sun sank below the tree tops she began wondering if she should go in after them. As if on cue, Kate could hear Trad's voice.

"Do you think Kate went to the others at the hide-out?" She heard him ask.

"No, she doesn't know where it is. Besides," It was Truly! "I'm not sure if she even made it out of that cavern. There are so many ways to get lost."

"True, but Kate's strong, and, smart. She was smart enough to use that mirror trick." Trad spoke again.

"You do have a point." Truly said.

Kate noticed the girl sounded really tired and when they finally emerged from the tunnel; Kate was in a bit of a shock. Trad had Truly's left arm draped over his shoulder, with his right arm supporting some of her weight. Truly's right leg had a bad cut right above her knee and running down her leg.

Kate stepped out of her hiding place and walked over to where Trad and Truly stood. "What happened?" She inquired.

"That was Scargrazor. He set up a trap." Trad explained. "He had a spy and tried to set up a trap, the only thing that allowed us to escape is that I caught the spy before they could tell Scargrazor where we were going. Scargrazor in the end killed himself and Jared and the rest of them ran off."

"And I saved your life." Truly snapped, there was anger in her tone but her eyes shone with playfulness.

"But I saved yours before you saved mine." Trad hooted like a owl.

"Is that how you were injured?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Truly replied. "but we both lived. We need to go to the other hide-out so we can tell the others it's safe."

Kate nodded, "Then can we go and rescue the others."

"Right, and find your family." Truly placed a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Together."

 _Yeah, not my best story ever... But, trust me, this is a lot better then some stuff. While searching for the edited version of this trash, I found several even older writings, some of which dated back to my year of 4th grade. I was such a horrible writer at that age and I almost wish I had never looked at those stories. (Trust me. If they had been posted, then I would lose the respect of all of FanFiction.)_

 _Again, I will extend this some day! There will be a bunch more stuff and I will re-write it to match the edited form that I still can't freakin' find. Bye guys._


	3. Are We Safe? Newer version

_Of course, as soon as I post the old, horrible version, I FIND THE BETTER VERSION TWO DAYS LATER. As it turns out, it was hiding among some other assignments that I had._

 _You want to know what's really funny? This is literally the assignment we were given:_

 **For this assessment, you will use pace and dialogue to write your own story.**

 _Yep, that's all we got! Well, technically, we did get a worksheet. However, all the worksheet did was just give us a format for the assignment, not the essay. So, I just went back, found my old assignment from last week. Then I kept some of the major details, but just changed parts of the plot. Yep! Tell me to write a story and I will give you a whole freakin' novel!_

 _8th grade Haven vs. 9th grade Haven!_

Kate was running through a forest area. She heard something behind her, but something told her not to turn to see what it was. Racing through the trees, trying to go as fast as possible, her arms and legs moving as fast as she could make them go. Her leg suddenly caught on some tree roots. Kate yelled out in surprise as she fell to the side. Dirt hit her and then left, and came back before leaving again. She was rolling down a slope. Someone shouted her name as she managed to stop herself from rolling anymore.

"Kate, wake up." Someone said.

 _What?_ She turned her head, but couldn't see anyone.

"Hello?" The person said again. "Stop fake sleeping."

Kate opened her eyes, though she didn't remember closing them. The bright sun made her blink quite a few times until her eyes mostly adjusted to the new lighting. She looked confused at the person standing over her until she realized who it was. "Mr. Roberts!" she exclaimed.

The teacher smiled a little, "Hello Kate. That was a good trick you did with the mirror." He reached in his pocket and pulled out the large shard from a broken mirror.

Kate took it and put it in her jacket pocket. Looking around the small space though, she couldn't see Jessica or her other friends. "What about the others? Did they escape too?" she asked.

Mr. Roberts frowned and shook his head, "No. Most of them thought it was a trap. They thought you were dead. Those who didn't weren't brave enough to use the mirror to escape." _He's was the only one brave enough to use the mirror._ Kate thought, disappointed.

"Where are we?" The question broke Kate out of her thoughts.

"I'm not sure. After I escaped the force field I ran into the forest." Kate responded. She looked around at the different trees and plants. Only the faint buzzing that the electricity from the force fields caused could be heard. The birds didn't sing, the squirrels made no noise; it seemed almost as if they were the only organisms on the planet.

Well, there was Mr. Roberts' dog, an old bulldog named Hamish. He was asleep though, as always. It seemed like that was all he did. That and eating…

Suddenly, Mr. Roberts looked at something above them. "Kate, get behind me." he whispered.

Kate didn't know what he was talking about so she turned to see what he was looking at. There was a young, teenage girl sitting on a branch of the tree Kate had fallen asleep under. She had dark brown hair that reached halfway down her back and light green eyes. A similar-colored green shirt and brown shorts were the only thing she wore even though it was probably about 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Mr. Roberts stepped between Kate and the other girl, though Kate didn't think she was much of a threat. "Who are you?" the teacher demanded.

"I'm Truly. Could I am who _you_ are?" The girl responded, her tone light and friendly. She definitely wasn't the one who set up the force fields, but you couldn't be too cautious.

People had begun disappearing after the force fields trapped people in different locations. No one knew if those people were alive or not. Kate had managed to escape though, as had Mr. Roberts and his dog.

Mr. Roberts glanced at Kate. She nodded, _I don't think Truly is a threat._ "My name is Mr. Roberts, and this is Kate." he said hesitantly.

"Nice to meet you." Truly said. She climbed off the branch and down to the ground. "I'll see you later."

"Wait." Mr. Roberts ordered as she began to run off. Truly stopped. "Do you know what's going on?" Kate's teacher asked.

Truly turned back around, "You should meet my brother. He can explain things better than I can."

"Could I speak to your parents instead?" Mr. Roberts asked.

Truly frowned and looked toward the ground, shaking her head, "No."

"Why not?" The teacher inquired.

Kate noticed that Truly hesitated. She finally said though, "They're dead."

Mr. Roberts exchanged a glance with Kate, "I'm sorry."

Truly nodded, "Now are you going to come with me or stay here?"

Kate stepped out from behind Mr. Roberts. She still wasn't too sure about trusting Truly, though she wasn't a threat. However, Truly seemed to know what was going on. "I think we should go with her." Kate whispered to Mr. Roberts.

"I'm not so sure." Mr. Roberts said back.

"She's, what, 13 or 14 years old? What threat could she be?" Kate asked.

"Did you see the mark on her hand?" Mr. Roberts replied.

"What ma-" Kate broke off as she looked at Truly again. There was a mark on the back of her left hand; it looked like a knife had carved it there. There was the word 'outcast' written with crude handwriting in a circle. Kate was surprised, _who would do that?_

Truly noticed they were looking and turned her hand so the palm of her hand faced them instead. "Scargrazor did that." she said.

"Who is Scargrazor?" Mr. Roberts asked.

Truly glanced around as if she thought they were being watched. Kate became nervous, _Who is Scargrazor? What does he want? Why is she acting so cautious?_ "Let's go to a safer place." Truly said.

Kate reluctantly followed with Mr. Roberts. Hamish followed, letting out small, gruff barks every now and then as if asking if they were there yet. The forest ended near a river. It was too deep to wade across and too wide to jump, but Truly led them to a bridge upriver.

"Are we really crossing this?" Kate asked. The bridge didn't look safe to her. It was old and several boards were cracked and broken. It was designed for vehicles, though it looked like not many people had used it recently.

"It's the only way across. I've used it several times already." Truly replied. _With her confidence, you would think this bridge was made of strong pieces of non-rusting metal._ Kate thought grimly.

Truly walked out onto the bridge first. Kate crossed her fingers, hoping that the bridge would hold. It did hold and Truly made it to the other side easily. "See? It's a piece of cake." Truly said, still as confident as ever.

"I'll go next." Mr. Roberts said. He picked up Hamish, who hardly seemed to notice his owner was about to carry him across an unstable bridge. Kate watched as Mr. Roberts cautiously crossed. One of the boards broke under his weight, but luckily Mr. Roberts regained his balance and hurried across the other bank of the river.

 _My turn,_ Kate sighed. She stepped out onto the bridge. Placing her other foot on as well, she began crossing the bridge. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. _I can do this._ She was nearing the end when she heard a menacing crack behind her. Kate turned part of the bridge supports had crashed into the river. The bridge was collapsing!

"Kate, run!" Mr. Roberts shouted.

Kate turned back around and ran for the bank where Truly, Hamish, and her teacher were. More cracks sounded behind her, coming closer. The whole bridge was about to crash into the river. She jumped to try to reach the opposite bank as the bridge collapsed, but she landed just shy of it. A hand grabbed hers, keeping her from plunging into the river.

Looking up to see who saved her, Kate was a little surprised to see Truly. They had only just met, but Truly had saved Kate nonetheless. Then Truly's grip began slipping, "I can't hold you. You're too heavy." Any other time, Kate would have taken that comment as an insult, but she knew that Truly had a point. Kate was 16 years old, Truly was only 13, maybe 14. There was a big age difference.

Mr. Roberts appeared over the river edge and held his hand out, "Kate, grab on." Kate reached up with her other hand and grabbed his hand. "Truly, help pull her up." He ordered. They both worked to pull Kate on top of the riverbank.

Kate felt the grass on her legs and climbed up on the bank beside them, her breathing rapid. She hugged Mr. Roberts, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The teacher was surprised by the gesture, but eventually hugged her back gently. "Let's keep going." Kate heard Truly say.

Kate turned to look at her, "Thank you as well."

"Your welcome," Truly said. Kate couldn't help but wonder if Truly had taken them to that bridge on purpose. She pushed the thoughts away. _If she wanted us dead, she wouldn't have tried to save my life._

Kate stood up, with some help from Mr. Roberts, and continued following Truly and him to the safer place. Truly led them into another wooded area until they finally reached the place Truly had mentioned. Well… they reached the entrance; they had to go through a tunnel to get to the place.

"Don't tell me you're scared of tunnels." Truly said before climbing inside.

"Should we go down?" Mr. Roberts whispered to Kate.

"She hasn't done anything untrustworthy yet." Kate commented. She climbed into the tunnel and followed the sound of Truly ahead of her.

The tunnel was dark and made mostly of dirt. After it descended for quite a bit of the way, Kate thought she saw a light ahead. Truly climbed out the tunnel, showing that there was actually a light.

Kate climbed out of the tunnel and was surprised by what she saw. There was an underground cavern, lit by a few cracks in the roof above as well as some candles. Around the walls, quite a few people were milling around. Some were talking with one another, others just sat around as if they had nothing to do, and others watched them suspiciously. Kate glanced at Truly, who seemed to be looking for one person in particular of the group.

Mr. Roberts came out of the tunnel after them with Hamish. The bulldog immediately lay down again and fell asleep. _That dog can sleep anywhere,_ Kate thought. " _This_ is the safe place?" Mr. Roberts commented, gesturing to the underground cavern.

"Yep." Truly said, hardly noticing the sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Truly?" Someone called, coming up to them.

Kate turned to look and guessed that this was Truly's brother. They had pretty much the same color hair, though Truly's was slightly darker. In addition, their clothes were the same as well as the color of their skin. One difference was their eyes; Truly's brother's were dark blue, not green. Another thing was that Trad seemed to be more of Kate's age, making him older than Truly.

"Hi Trad." Truly replied cheerfully.

"Who are they?" The guy, Trad, asked, pointing to Kate and Mr. Roberts.

"This is Kate and that is Mr. Roberts. They escaped from the force field around the airport." Truly answered.

Trad looked at them, "More rebels then."

"Excuse me, what do you mean by rebels?" Mr. Roberts cut in.

Trad looked at Truly. "Of course you left it up to me to explain, again." Truly shrugged, making Trad roll his eyes. "How much do you already know?" he asked, looking back at them.

"Truly mentioned Scargrazor." Kate said.

"Okay. Scargrazor is a man who is trying to take over the world. He has quite a few people who support him. However, there are still a lot who don't. So those force fields were set up to trap people within. Every time someone disappears, they are being transported to Scargrazor's lair. There they can chose to follow him or be thrown out here. Those of us that are thrown out here get this mark." Trad explained. He showed them the back of his left hand, which had the exact same 'outcast' mark as Truly had on her left hand.

"I'm going to guess that's where the name comes from." Kate commented.

Truly nodded, "Scargrazor himself doesn't do it though."

"He makes the people who support him do the dirty work." Trad added.

Mr. Roberts nodded, "But what are all of you going to do about it? It sounds like Scargrazor has everything he needs to come here and destroy this place."

"We aren't sure yet." Trad said.

 _What a plan,_ Kate thought grimly.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"Not right now. Just get some rest. There are water bottles by the back wall if you want." Trad replied.

Kate nodded and went to the back of the cavern. She found a couple of water bottles and picked up one for herself. When she turned back around, Truly was there. "Uh, hi." Kate said.

"Hi." Truly smiled. "I'll set up a tent for you if you want."

"I can-" Kate didn't get to finish as Truly had already run off to set one up. She rolled her eyes and took a drink from the water bottle. Mr. Roberts came over, "I'm not so sure if we should trust them."

"What have they done that is untrustworthy?" Kate replied. She wasn't so sure about them as well, but she rather would be in a group then out alone."

"I'm just unsure about facing Scargrazor. What if people die because of this?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"People have died; Truly's and Trad's parents." Kate said. "They died trying to escape a force field. Truly and Trad are trying to avenge their parent's deaths."

Mr. Roberts nodded, "True." he sighed, "Fine."

Kate nodded and took another drink from her water bottle. Truly came back a little while later, "I have your tents set up by the left wall of the cavern,"

"Thanks." Mr. Roberts said.

Truly nodded. Kate went to the left wall of the cavern and found two new tents. She picked one and went inside. There was sleeping bag and some canned food inside. Kate wondered where they got the supplies, but figured they had gotten into a Wal-Mart or something by using mirrors.

The light was dimming in the cavern, telling Kate it was getting late. She looked at some of the canned food and found something that wouldn't need cooked. Later she noticed most of the others going to their tents to sleep, except for Truly. Kate watched as the young teenager left the cavern through the tunnel.

 _What is she up to?_ Kate thought. A couple seconds later, she went out the tunnel as well, deciding to investigate. She came out the other side just in time to see Truly disappearing into the woods. The other girl seemed to be heading toward the river.

Kate followed, staying hidden though behind trees and bushes. Unfortunately, she stepped on a small stick that cracked loudly under her weight. She looked up and saw Truly looking at the surrounding trees, her face showing she was scared. Truly began running, heading toward the river still. Kate followed, hoping that the noise Truly made while running was enough to cover up the noise Kate made.

They reached the river, though Truly seemed to be unaware that Kate was following. She watched as Truly caught her breath and continued looking around. Kate began to wonder who Truly was scared of finding her: Scargrazor's group or the rebels…

Eventually Truly began walking up the river, but on the riverbank. Kate followed, still hidden in the trees and bushes. Suddenly Truly's footing slipped. Kate watched in horror. Truly managed to grab onto the slippery river bank, but it was steep so gravity began pulling her down. _I have to save her,_ Kate thought she ran forward. By this time the river began dragging at Truly's feet. It was as if the river was a hungry monster, trying to catch its unfortunate victim. Kate reached the riverbank.

"Kate?" Truly exclaimed in shock, still trying to regain her grip on the bank.

"Grab on!" Was all Kate said, reaching her hand down to try to pull Truly up onto the bank. Truly pulled one hand out of the bank. The young teen reached up to grab Kate's hand. She began to slip faster though.

Kate watched as Truly pulled her hand bank and continued trying to pull herself onto the bank. "I can't." Truly cried.

"Hold on." Kate said, though the advice was useless. Of course Truly was holding on! Kate ran back to the trees and grabbed a strong stick from the ground.

A word-less shout from the river told her that Truly was slipping more. Kate ran back to the river and found Truly barely hanging onto the bank. The water was to her knees now, still trying to drag her into its black depths.

"Truly, trust me." Kate shouted above the water and Truly's struggles. She held the stick out toward Truly. The other girl grabbed on with first one hand and then the other.

Kate pulled on the stick, trying to drag Truly out of the river. At first, she thought she wouldn't have the strength, but the stick lurched and Kate fell backwards. _Truly slipped!_ Was her first thought. As she scrambled to her feet though, she saw Truly half-on and half-off the bank. She was trying to catch her breath, mud on her hands, arms, and clothes.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked her.

Truly looked up, surprised. Kate wondered if Truly had already forgot who had rescued her. Then Truly climbed to her feet shakily and hugged Kate. "Thank you," she gasped.

Kate hugged her back. Both of their clothes were muddy now anyway. It didn't matter. "It's okay." Kate soothed, rubbing Truly's back gently.

"How did you find me?" Truly asked.

"I, uh, I followed you. I saw you leave the cavern…" Kate admitted, breaking the hug.

"You were suspicious." Truly guessed.

Kate nodded, blushing a little, "Sorry."

Truly rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you did follow me. I would have drowned in the river without you. The current is too strong, for even the best swimmer."

"Thanks for not being mad." Kate said. "But, why were you out here?"

"Come see. Be as quiet as possible though." Truly replied. She continued along the river, though Kate noticed she didn't walk right on the bank anymore.

It was getting even darker out when they finally reached their location, near a dam. "Up here." Truly said, going to a staircase that was a part of a tourist attraction apparently. Kate followed her up. They reached the top of the dam.

"What are we doing here?" Kate asked.

"Inside is Scargrazor's secret lair." Truly whispered, barely audible above the noise the dam made.

"In a dam?" Kate exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Truly said, motioning for Kate to quiet down. "Yes, in a dam. Hiding in plain site."

"Oh." Kate replied, _that kind of makes sense._

Truly nodded, "Stay quiet, okay?"

Kate nodded and reminded herself to not talk. She followed Truly as they snuck inside through a doorway that was supposed to lead to the engines of the dam. All was surprisingly quiet, as the dam hadn't been taken care of because of the force fields. They walked along the metal walkways to an inside area of the dam. They were now standing above a huge number of people. There were a few hundred people inside, at the least; some just milling around, others were talking or arguing, a few were just watching the others nervously.

"Most of them are people who just joined Scargrazor so they would be safe." Truly explained in a whisper. "Some are part of his family and others do actually support him for whatever nonsense reason."

"Look what we have here." A menacing voice suddenly said behind them. Kate whipped around to see who. One of Scargrazor's supporters was standing on the metal walkway behind them. He suddenly grabbed a bunch of Kate's and Truly's hair, pulling them up from their crouch. "An outcast and a run-away. Let's see what Scargrazor has to say."

Truly sudden punched the man in the stomach. He stumbled backward, letting go of them. He fell over the railing and could be heard screaming as he fell to the ground.

"Run!" Truly said, pushing Kate back the way they came. She heard people pursuing them, but tried to ignore it.

Kate began running, glad she had mostly remembered the way they came. She heard Truly running behind her. "Hurry! Don't look back!" Truly shouted.

Running as fast as she could, Kate suddenly remembered her dream as she ran down the staircase. Pushing the thought away, she focused on running as fast as she could back to the safe place. She reached the river and continued until she reached the place where the bridge had collapsed.

There she finally stopped to try to catch her breath. "We ma-" Kate was saying when she realized Truly wasn't there. Looking around frantically, she didn't see the younger teen anywhere. The men had stopped pursuing her around where the staircase began… _Truly ran a different way so they wouldn't catch me and instead catch her!_ Kate felt terrible for ever thinking that Truly was trying to kill her and Mr. Roberts.

Clenching her fist in determination, Kate began running back to the safe spot. She needed to tell Trad what had happened. She arrived and went through the tunnel.

"Trad?" She called into his tent.

He came out, "Kate, what is it?"

"Truly has been captured," Kate blurted out, deciding not to sugarcoat the story.

"What?!" Trad exclaimed. He had looked still tired before, but now it was as if someone had put a blow horn to his ear. _Maybe I should have sugarcoated the story… too late now though._

"I saw Truly leave the cavern. I followed her and we went to Scargrazor's lair in the dam. We were discovered. Truly told me to keep running. I didn't realize until I reached the river later that she hadn't followed me… Truly was taken by Scargrazor's supporters." Kate explained.

Trad was shocked, but managed to nod. "We'll wait until morning to go out again. Try to get some rest." he decided.

Kate thought it would be impossible to sleep after what just happened, but she nodded and went back to her tent. She lay down on the sleeping bag and lay awake for a while. Eventually her exhaustion brought sleep…

Noises outside the tent woke Kate. She looked outside and saw the others were mostly already awake and moving around the cavern. Kate almost expected to see Truly, until she remembered last night.

Getting up and heading outside, Kate saw Mr. Roberts outside his tent petting Hamish. "Hi." Kate said to her teacher.

Mr. Roberts looked up, "Hello."

"Did you hear about what happened?" Kate asked.

He nodded, "Trad told me this morning. He left to try to see where they're keeping her."

"By himself?" Kate exclaimed, worried.

"No, he took two others with him." Mr. Roberts said. "Don't worry."

Kate sighed and sat down beside him. He gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder before turning back to Hamish. A while later she heard a noise from the tunnel. She jumped to her feet and looked as Trad came inside with two others.

"Did you find her?" Kate asked, running up to them.

"Yes, but we couldn't free her. They have her locked in a room for now. I'm not sure if they've done anything to her or not." Trad said.

Kate nodded, "Did you find anyway to get her out?"

One of guys who had gone with Trad shook his head, "That place is very secure, we almost didn't find a way in."

Trad walked away, Kate guessing it was to think of a plan to get his sister back. She went back to her own tent to wait for him to come up with something. Kate watched two young kids who had escaped from a force field with their parents playing around. _I can't wait until we get Truly back,_ she thought.

About an hour or so later, Trad came out of his tent and came up to her. "I figured out a plan, you're part of it." he said.

Kate stood up, "What is it?"

"Go wait by the tunnel; I'll explain once everyone coming is there." Trad replied.

"Okay." Kate went to the area by the tunnel. She waited for Trad to come with whoever else was part of the plan.

Eventually Trad came with three other people who were part of the rescue group. Kate guessed he made the group small so if they were captured as well, the others in the rebel group would still have quite a few people on their side.

"Here's the plan." Trad said before explaining what they would do. Apparently the guards outside Truly's room changed every two hours, plus two guards that patrolled the hallways every hour. Two of the people in the group would knock out the guards who were supposed to patrol the hallway and take their place. The rest would be the next guards outside Truly's room. Then they would sneak out with Truly and come back to the hideout.

Kate sighed with relief as the previous guards left as soon as they saw the new 'guards' come into site. She had chosen to be in the group that would pretend to be guards outside of the room they were keeping Truly in. The effort Scargrazor had put in to keep Truly captured surprised her. However, she was glad they hadn't decided to kill her instead.

After a few minutes to make sure no more guards were coming, Trad, who was also part of Kate's team, went into the room. Kate heard him make a gasping noise and went in after him. Truly was on the ground, unconscious. The outcast mark on her left hand had been re-carved into it. There were a few bruises on her head, Scargrazor or one of his men must have hit her.

"Truly, wake up." Trad whispered, on the ground beside her. He gently shook Truly's shoulder, but his sister didn't respond.

"Is she okay?" Kate asked. She knew it was a pointless question, but people often ask pointless questions at times like these.

"I'm not sure. We need to get her back to the cavern immediately though." Trad responded. He picked up Truly and carefully stood up.

They went outside of the room and into the hall just as the two rebels who were pretending to be the guards patrolling the hallways came up. "What happened to Truly? She wasn't like that yesterday." One of the guys asked.

"I don't know. Let's get her to the cavern." Trad answered.

Kate went with them out onto the top of the dam. They managed to go without being spotted. Even so, Kate kept glancing around as if expecting for Scargrazor's men to come up behind them at any second. The group went down the stairs and went into the woods, as it was safer than being out in the open by the river.

Trad set Truly down in a clear spot and tried to wake her up again. Kate watched, hoping Truly was okay. Several of the others watched as well.

"Trad, let's get-" One of the guys, Jason, began to say.

Before he could finish Truly woke up. "T-Trad?" she said, looking a little confused.

Trad smiled, "Yes, everything is okay. What happened to you though?"

"Scargrazor tried to get me to tell them where the other outcast and run-aways were. I refused and he had one of his men re-carve the sign on my hand and hit me." Truly explained, sounding tired.

Trad nodded, "You're safe now."

Truly smiled slightly. Kate began to feel bad, _I wonder if she wouldn't have been captured if I had waited outside the dam. No, there's no point in that now. It's been done._ Truly glanced at the others, "Thanks for coming."

"It's fine." Jason said.

"Do you think you can walk?" Trad asked her.

"They didn't hurt my legs." Truly commented before standing up. Trad stood up as well, ready to catch her in case she fell, which she didn't.

The group continued following the river, though they stayed hidden in the trees. Soon they reached the place where the bridge used to be. Kate walked with the others back to the hideout. They arrived a couple minutes later and went through the tunnel.

Truly went with Trad to his tent. Kate guessed it was for Truly's hand to be treated. Kate went to her own tent to get a little rest.

Truly came by later, her left hand wrapped. "Hey."

"Hey." Kate said.

"How are you doing?" Truly asked, sitting beside Kate.

"Fine, how's your hand?' Kate replied.

"It's okay, Trad insisted that I keep it wrapped." Truly said, rolling her eyes.

Kate nodded. She glanced at Truly's hand and found herself wishing again that things had been different.

"Don't blame yourself." Truly reached for Kate's hand with her right one.

"Habit." Kate shrugged.

"Bad habit."

"Yeah…"

"Hey, I would be _dead_ if you hadn't come with me from drowning. I'd much rather have scars on my hand than that."

Kate looked up and smiled a little, "Thanks Truly."

Truly nodded and stood up. "Where are you going?" Kate asked.

"I'm not leaving the cavern." Truly replied, some amusement in her tone. She walked off to talk to someone.

Kate laughed a little and went to see where Mr. Roberts and Hamish were. Hamish was sleeping in Mr. Roberts' tent, snoring loudly. She smiled and continued trying to look for her teacher. Soon Kate found him, talking to a woman near the back wall of the cavern. _Someone's flirting,_ she joked in her mind and laughed a little.

That night Kate was sleeping in her tent, only to be woken up by Mr. Roberts. "What is it?" she asked, still half-asleep.

"We need to evacuate the cavern." Mr. Roberts said.

"Why?" Kate inquired.

"I'll explain later. Grab a few things and get by the tunnel entrance as soon as possible." Mr. Roberts left the tent.

Kate rubbed her eyes to help wake herself up. She grabbed the sleeping bag and put the water bottle and a few cans of food, just in case, inside. After rolling it up and snapping the small buttons together, she went to the tunnel as instructed.

Everyone seemed to be working to get packed or already waiting by the tunnel. Kate pumped into Truly on her way there, nearly knocking over the younger girl.

"Sorry." Kate said.

"It's fine. Are you ready to go?" Truly replied.

Kate nodded, "But why are we leaving?"

"One of the men in the group know how to make a bomb. He's going to place one on the dam where Scargrazor and his people are. We're managed to send a message to those inside who aren't actually Scargrazor's followers to evacuate. The reason we have to leave this place is because it will flood once the dam is destroyed though." Truly explained.

"Okay." Kate said.

Truly walked away to help other pack. Kate waited for everyone to finish. Eventually they were ready to go and left through the tunnel.

Kate stuck close to Mr. Roberts as they went through the trees. Soon they reached the staircase up to the dam.

"Everyone, we'll go up in groups of 3. All of us will meet at the nearest force field. The force fields should be gone once the dam is destroyed." Trad said.

Kate immediately stuck close to Mr. Roberts, who was carrying Hamish. "Should we find Truly to go with?" she asked.

"Fine." Mr. Roberts said.

Kate went to find Trad's younger sister. She found Truly by the edge of the group, looking at the dam. "Hey." Kate said, coming up to her.

Truly looked at Kate, "Hi."

"Do you want to be in a group with Mr. Roberts and me?" Kate asked.

"Sure." Truly shrugged.

Kate walked with Truly back to where Mr. Roberts was. He nodded to them, Hamish shifting slightly in his arms. They would be one of the first groups to go up. After the first four groups went, Kate went with them to the stairs and began climbing. Mr. Roberts was ahead of her while Truly was behind. She hoped that they wouldn't be spotted by anyone inside the dam.

They reached the top of the staircase and immediately went into the surrounding wooden area to hide from view. Kate noticed Truly kept casting a nervous glance at the dam, "You okay?"

Truly looked away and back at Kate, "Yes."

Kate nodded, deciding not to ask more. They watched as much more groups, each containing three of the rebels, came up the stairs and hid from view. A noise came from behind them. Kate turned to see what made it. It turned out to just be a noisy squirrel that didn't like people intruding in the forest.

Just as she did that, a huge _boom!_ sounded from the dam. She turned back around to see the dam had exploded, leaving wreckage all over the place. The water from the huge river above the dam began to pour into the valley below, quickly flooding the forest where the hide-out had been.

"Good thing we're here." Truly commented behind Kate.

Mr. Roberts nodded, "You did good, Truly."

Kate turned back around to see Truly blushing. "It wasn't just me." she said.

"Yeah, but you get part of the credit too." Kate smiled. "Now, where is the nearest force field, or old force field…"

"This way." Truly began walking to an area away from the dam. "Let's go."

A couple minutes later they reached a neighborhood that previously was covered by a force field, but now wasn't. People were beginning to gather in the streets from their homes. Kate went up to Truly once they stopped near the neighborhood, "Now what?"

Truly turned to her, "Now I'll help you find your family."

 _Told you that one year made a big difference in my writing. Do you like the first version or second version better? They are quite different, except for that ending though..._

 _This WILL turn into a story someday. Maybe once I finish one of my current ones. Or once I have more free time. So, enjoy!_


End file.
